GILROY
– Parents are continuing a multi-semester push to end Gilroy
High School’s open enrollment policy for Honors and Advanced
Placement courses. While discussions will continue, Principal Bob
Bravo says Gilroy High School and the district are committed to
letting any interested student take the more c
hallenging courses.
GILROY – Parents are continuing a multi-semester push to end Gilroy High School’s open enrollment policy for Honors and Advanced Placement courses. While discussions will continue, Principal Bob Bravo says Gilroy High School and the district are committed to letting any interested student take the more challenging courses.
During the first Honors/AP advisory meeting of the school year Wednesday night, a group of about 20 parents met with Bravo to sound off on the fledgling Honors program, started in 2002, and the long-standing AP program.
Besides open enrollment, parents questioned the qualifications of some Honors and AP teachers who they say are unprepared to teach the more rigorous courses, in spite of the fact that Bravo said they are well-trained.
Meanwhile, at least four teachers in the high school’s English department – some teaching Honors and all at the freshman level – will be let go at the end of this school year.
English teachers Debbie DeWall, Christina McGovern, Kristen Porter and Deborah Petranek, who comprise roughly a quarter of the department staff, will not be re-hired by the district, Porter said. The teachers were hired as temporary or probationary employees and so may not be re-hired based on performance.
The department became a flashpoint last fall when criteria for a new core reading list were established. During the process, the advisory group responsible for examining books used in GHS English courses decided to adopt a textbook, in spite of rumored resistance from some teachers.
Honors English courses were part of Wednesday night’s focus, as some parents said their students needed more of a challenge. For several years, parents and teachers have said that unprepared students who are allowed to enroll in the rigorous courses hold back the class while hurting themselves, as well.
“If you let (students) walk into a class with no prerequisites and then set them up for failure, what are they supposed to do?” parent Robert Bickle said.
AP courses, open to juniors and seniors, are college-level. AP students receive an extra grade point, so a B counts as much as an A in a regular class. If they pass an end-of-the-year standardized test, they may receive college credit, depending on the school.
Honors courses are open to freshmen and sophomores.
Parents suggested requiring a minimum GPA or score on a standardized test for students considering Honors or AP classes, or a recommendation from a counselor.
Bravo said the high school remains committed to maintaining open access, and teachers will provide parents more information about the recommended prerequisites.
For example, incoming freshmen should have certain scores on standardized tests before entering Honors English, or an A grade in Algebra 1 if they want to take Honors Geometry.
AP Coordinator Kanani Pratt said unprepared students do challenge teachers.
“Teachers are sometimes frustrated when you have an extreme amount of reading levels in a classroom,” Pratt said. “It makes it more difficult for a teacher because, as far as AP and Honors go, especially AP, (the courses are) already mapped out. So it makes it more difficult to … remediate.”
Pratt said she still favors open enrollment, adding that the state department of education supports open access.
“It really depends on the student itself,” she said. “It’s better for a student to be in a class where they’re challenged than to not be challenged at all.”
Some parents at the meeting also questioned the ability of various teachers to lead an above-grade-level or college-level course.
“I think that it goes without saying that you need a higher level of content knowledge to teach AP,” said Jackie Stevens, a parent in the Alliance for Academic Excellence, a grassroots group seeking more options for rigor at the high school..
At issue are several newer teachers. Bravo said Honors/AP teachers received special training specifically for those courses. Also, the group that issues AP tests will be training Honors teachers this summer.
“I think every parent wants to feel that their child has the best teacher, and I think that that’s totally fair,” Bravo said.
Parents with below-grade-level students also request that they get “the most-qualified” teachers, he said, so it becomes a balancing act.
The issue of encouraging all AP students to take the end-of-the-year exam also was raised Wednesday. While GHS no longer requires that AP students take the exam, which costs $82 this year, it is “highly recommended” to students, Bravo said.
GHS students fall below the national average passing rate on AP exams.
Last year, of 36 students who took the AP statistics test, six passed with a score of 3 to 5, while the rest failed with a score of 1 or 2. Fewer than one-third of the 19 students who took the biology exam passed, compared with nearly 60 percent nationally.
The percentage of students passing the AP macroeconomics test equaled the national average. While fewer GHS students scored a 1 on the exam, students across the country were more likely to score a 5.
Spanish language and Government students fared better than students nationally. Only 15 percent of the 39 students who took the Spanish language test and 40 percent of Government students failed.
Bravo said GHS pushes the test because colleges might prefer a student who receives a failing score on an AP test over a student who does not take the test. He has also noted that more students are enrolling in AP classes and taking the tests, so more are passing.
Stevens suggested the high school encourage students to take tests in the AP subjects they know they can pass, because University of California admissions officers have told her they do not consider test scores in admissions. She has a daughter enrolled at UCLA.
“We’re not asking for anyone to be shut out, we’re asking for the school to come up with some guidelines and some academic counseling,” Stevens said.
“The University of California always encourages students to take the AP test,” said Hanan Eisenman, media coordinator at the UC Office of the President. “They are not penalized for receiving a (failing) score of 1 to 2.”
Eisenman would not say whether the UC would rather a opt out of an AP test over failing it.
